THERE MAY BE some debate about whether netbooks are an important growth opportunity for chipmakers, or if they’re taking a significant bite out of laptop sales, but the fact is that Intel has its Atom processor up and running, while AMD has yet to come up with a netbook chip of its own.
The fact AMD doesn’t have a netbook processor in the pipeline could be problematic for the firm. Its share of the global notebook market might well be in for a drop from the current 12-13 per cent to below 10 per cent share in 2009.
After all, entry level notebook PCs are not exactly the same thing as netbooks, and even if AMD does come out with its Yukon (Huron processor and RS690 chipset) and Congo (Conesus processor and RS780M chipset) platforms next year, both will target the entry-level and mid-range notebook segments rather than the cheap and cheerful netbook market that is seeing such a boom of late.
The problem for AMD now, however, is that the cost of developing all new netbook targeted parts will be costly and it will have a tough, if not impossible, time trying to compete with Chipzilla’s already super selling Atom.
After Yukon is launched in the first quarter of 2009 and Congo is launched in the second half of the year, AMD says it will follow up with its Nile series in 2010 and Ontario, with a dual-core Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) based on the Bobcat core, in 2011.
All well and good, but it still looks like little netbooks will continue packing Intel inside for a while to come.
Source: www.theinquirer.net
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